t to stop
until he had secured a good education. Accordingly, he was soon back
in the Normal School, where he was graduated at the age of twenty.

In less than a month after his graduation, he learned of a competitive
examination for entrance into West Point Military Academy. With no
rich or influential friends to help him, the young normal graduate had
little hope of getting into West Point. So excellent, however, were
his examination papers that the poor Missouri boy was readily accepted
and soon became a student in this great Military Academy. How
fortunate that he was a hard working student and passed that
examination, otherwise America today would be without General
Pershing.

Relieved of all financial burden, for the government paid all his
expenses in West Point, he settled down to four years of hard work. So
successful was he in this work that upon his graduation he was made
senior cadet captain--the highest honor West Point can give to any
student.

Immediately after graduation he was sent into New Mexico and Arizona
to help settle Indian difficulties. Life among the cowboys and Indians
was indeed exciting, but perhaps his most exciting experience was with
an Apache Chief by the name of Geronimo. This old chief, with his
group of warriors, had defied the entire United States for two years.
Finally he fled into Mexico and young Pershing with his army was sent
in pursuit. Odd as it may seem, the old Indian chief took almost the
same route through Mexico that Villa followed some thirty years later.
No doubt General Pershing in his pursuit of Villa often thought of his
experiences years before when after Geronimo and his warriors.

After spending several years in the Southwest, at the age of thirty,
he was made Professor of Military Tactics in the University of
Nebraska. Here he remained four years during which time, in addition
to his work as teacher, he completed the law course in the University.
His next promotion pleased him greatly, for he was chosen a professor
in his old school, West Point, where he remained but one year when the
Cuban War broke out. Immediately he felt his country's call, and with
the Tenth United States Cavalry sailed for Cuba.

No sooner did he land than he found himself in the thick of the
war. Among the hardest battles he was in were those at San Juan Hill
and Santiago de Cuba. Twice during this war he was recommended for
brevet commissions "for personal gallantry, untiring energy